Help Solve a SLI/XFire Arguement!

Monstermunch · 10 Aug 2006 at 11:06

One of my mates has 2 x 6600gt 128mb cards running in SLI & thinking about upgrading and is convinced that he needs 2 gfx cards:

Right IMO SLI & XFire are just clever marketing scams designed to rob us gamers of our hard earned cash!

Unless running a very large monitor like a 24" or 30" monitor there is no advantage in having dual gfx cards. Obviously there are performance gains to be had but not when trying to get good value for money.

From what i've read you lose a substantial amount of performance to controlling and synchronising the cards. i.e. 1 x 6800gt 512mb would be approx 15-20% faster than 2 x 6800gt 256mb.

He is also convinced that there are and will be games designed to run faster and better with dual cards.... i.e. SLI games. I think this is a load of rubbish and is just a marketing scam.

Personally I would prefer to buy a single card and just upgrade every 12 months or so.....

Opinions?

Raj · 10 Aug 2006 at 11:31

A single high end card spanks two lower cards in SLI/Xfire.

E.g. 2 X 7600gs will NOT beat a single 7900gt.

Tell him to spend his money on a x1800xt, it will spank most ideas he is comming up with, unless ofcourse he is minted and can afford 1900xt, 7900gtx or even 7900 in dual card.

div0 · 10 Aug 2006 at 11:33

I am of the same opinion as you.

And if it ever turns out that a £400+ graphics setup is ESSENTIAL for good gaming performance (whether that be a single card or SLI/Crossfire), then the desktop gaming market will find itself in BIG trouble IMO.

Hardware manufacturers jobs are to convince as many people as possible that they "need" to spend as much money as possible on their next purchase, and that the latest tech is a "must have".

You know what they say about a fool and their money......

Raj · 10 Aug 2006 at 11:41

If your friend is looking for a purely gaming experiance, tell him to go buy an Xbox 360, far better value for what you get due to the manufacturer subsidising the cost of the hardware

If hes going to use the PC for other things tell him to go buy a X1800XT, great value card and goes like stink.

LoadsaMoney · 10 Aug 2006 at 11:51

Show him this and tell him to go through the games here

Were getting the same in another thread, some ppl rekon 2x 6800 GT's in SLi are faster than a single x1800 XT, but as you can see from that, the x1800 XT wallops em, it even wallops 2x Ultras!!, but they still won't have it.

A single 6800 GT is faster than 2x6600 GT's in SLi.

ACESHIGH · 10 Aug 2006 at 13:11

Pretty much agree with all the posters above.

Monstermunch said:
One of my mates has 2 x 6600gt 128mb cards running in SLI & thinking about upgrading and is convinced that he needs 2 gfx cards

You never need to run 2 cards, even on an SLI or Crossfire motherboard - they work perfectly fine with just one card.

Monstermunch said:
Right IMO SLI & XFire are just clever marketing scams designed to rob us gamers of our hard earned cash!

Unless running a very large monitor like a 24" or 30" monitor there is no advantage in having dual gfx cards. Obviously there are performance gains to be had but not when trying to get good value for money.

Would have to agree. SLI / Crossfire's true potential is only when running at very high res on large screens with 2x topend GPU's.

Monstermunch said:
From what i've read you lose a substantial amount of performance to controlling and synchronising the cards. i.e. 1 x 6800gt 512mb would be approx 15-20% faster than 2 x 6800gt 256mb.

With Crossfire & SLI there is always some overhead & so you do lose some performance; ie 2x 6800GT are never twice as fast as a single 6800GT.

Monstermunch said:
He is also convinced that there are and will be games designed to run faster and better with dual cards.... i.e. SLI games. I think this is a load of rubbish and is just a marketing scam.

There are NO games that are desinged for extra SLI performance.

EG :
BFG GeForce 7600 GS OC 256MB DDR2 x2 = £169.08
Will get spanked by the cheaper Connect3D X1800XT in every single game or benchamrk.

Monstermunch said:
Personally I would prefer to buy a single card and just upgrade every 12 months or so.....

Me too.

kinggost · 10 Aug 2006 at 16:52

I went sli on my dell 24" it was worth the money if resale values were so gd but there not so id prob go for one high end card and upgrade every so often next time

FrankJH · 10 Aug 2006 at 18:33

kinggost said:
I went sli on my dell 24" it was worth the money if resale values were so gd but there not so id prob go for one high end card and upgrade every so often next time

I went xfire when purchasing my 24" dell, but My x1900XT was brilliant even upto full res on my 20" dell

It also depends on what games you are playing as to whether it matters much.

I would say though that its likely nvidia and ati/amd will start pushing 3gpu rigs , using the 3rd for physics calculations - it will be interesting if they or games designers allow a gpu to be used for physics on 2gpu "only" rigs - ie a single top spec card for graphics and a low/medium gpu for physics

Without a doubt its a waste going SLI /xfire on anything lower than a 24" screen (even the newer 22" screens have same res as standard 20")

kinggost · 10 Aug 2006 at 19:49

FrankJH said:
I went xfire when purchasing my 24" dell, but My x1900XT was brilliant even upto full res on my 20" dell

Im not saying is wasnt exellant cuz it was. What i was saying it wasnt worth paying double because ive not even had mine a year and im going to change mine soon because new games run slow. It wasnt worth me paying £750 for both my 7800 gtx extreem 256mb 490/1300 because im not even gona get half back ill be lucky if i got £200 for the pair.

doran1801 · 10 Aug 2006 at 20:12

you might get a bit more than 200 for them, i have just sold my 2 6800gt's for £200

FrankJH · 10 Aug 2006 at 21:08

kinggost said:
Im not saying is wasnt exellant cuz it was. What i was saying it wasnt worth paying double because ive not even had mine a year and im going to change mine soon because new games run slow. It wasnt worth me paying £750 for both my 7800 gtx extreem 256mb 490/1300 because im not even gona get half back ill be lucky if i got £200 for the pair.

Sorry I didnt mean to sound as if I was disagreeing with you i wasnt -

kinggost · 10 Aug 2006 at 21:31

FrankJH said:
Sorry I didnt mean to sound as if I was disagreeing with you i wasnt -

It ok didnt think you was

i wont get more than £300 for them tho stupid to say i paid £750 less than a year ago

Darkwave · 10 Aug 2006 at 22:16

I hate SLi and Crossfire.

Just felt like venting that.

maddness · 12 Aug 2006 at 19:50

i know this may sound crazy,

the GX2 relies on software profiles to utilise both cards

does the crossfire work in a similar way, or does it give a boost in any game?

ta

easyrider · 12 Aug 2006 at 19:58

SLI is good if you have a one card and you just need a boost later down the line.

eg. there is no point getting two 7600 GT'S at the same time.Just get the fastest single card within budget.

However getting the faster card in the first place is usually the answer.

SLI is a more mature tech and x1900 in x fire needs a nuclear power station to run it never mind the heat lmao!

Single card solutions are the best bet.But I am considering 2 x X1950's in Xfire as I know my conroe at 3.8ghz will not be much of a bottle neck.

And my mobo supports it.

This should keep me going untill DX 10

maddness · 12 Aug 2006 at 20:02

ooh just found out it boosts all games, unlike sli / gx2

glad i changed over, now i need to get some games lol

"When ATI first announced CrossFire, it proudly proclaimed that CrossFire would be able to accelerate all 3D applications without the need for application-specific profiles. That turns out to be true in that CrossFire defaults to SuperTiling for all Direct3D apps and scissor mode for OpenGL"

maddness · 12 Aug 2006 at 20:07

easyrider said:
SLI is a more mature tech and x1900 in x fire needs a nuclear power station to run it never mind the heat lmao!

actually my system board temps is 10 degrees or so :eek:

cooler than with the gx2 (43 down to 33) as the heat is being exhausted, and the gpu temps are down to 44 compared to the 62 from the gx2

FreeStream · 12 Aug 2006 at 20:10

Unless you play at over 1600x1200 (and then a X1900 @ XT-X is enough) then SLi/Xfire is a waste.

The 7950 is a cheat card tbqfh

Single X1800 or X1900 ***!

CR.

easyrider · 12 Aug 2006 at 20:28

<maddness> said:
actually my system board temps is 10 degrees or so cooler than with the gx2 (43 down to 33) as the heat is being exhausted, and the gpu temps are down to 44 compared to the 62 from the gx2

Wondered why you upgraded your PSU

kinggost · 12 Aug 2006 at 20:29

Even if crossfire doesnt need a profile then what it matter becuase all new game with have profiles. Older games run fast nuff without profiles. Or have i just got the wrong end of it